10.4

Wow.

I knew it was going to be good, but I still felt something like a kid in a candy store when I installed Apple's newest version of Mac OS X, Tiger and started playing with it. The major new features are Spotlight, Dashboard, Automator, and Safari's built-in support for RSS.

The install process itself was incredibly easy, but that's no surprise. It did seem to take less time than I thought would - maybe using a DVD for the install media is part of that. I definitely appreciate the single disc. Panther had three CDs - one was the core system, one had extra apps, and one had developer software.

After Tiger started up and it's cool little welcome movie played, I think the first thing I tried was Spotlight, but it was by accident. Quicksilver has been an indispensable tool for me for quite some time and I invoked it with Command-Space, which is the new key combo for Spotlight. Seeing as how they're very similar, this is quite appropriate. Quicksilver, whose developer released a new version especially for Tiger on Saturday, is now assigned to simply the Control key. Still have to get used to that.

Spotlight is definitely cool. I'm going to have to play it with to figure out how to really tap into its power, but its worth is immediately visible once you start typing. Every file that matches starts appearing in the results, ordered by relevance. Switch to the expanded results window and you can focus on a category, like Applications or PDF Files for example and view previews of things like PDFs and image files. Very snazzy.

Spotlight wasn't what I was looking forward to the most though, unlike (it seems) everyone else. Quicksilver has been my bread and butter for that kind of thing for months. Clearly that kind of technology is important to users, so I'm glad Apple has gone that route. No, what I couldn't wait to get my hands on was Dashboard. And let me say, it doesn't disappoint.

Forget Konfabulator, Dashboard is actually a useful addition. If Apple had stolen the technology for Dashboard from the Konfabulator guys, well, it would been like trying to build a luxury sports car on top of a go-cart frame. I'm amazed at how Apple is so good at identifying ways to make using computers and accessing information more fun, more stylish, and more convenient. Dashboard has plenty of visual POW, and backs it up with awesome widgets and clever interfaces. The very idea that to customize a widget you simply flip it over and that's where you find the preference settings - well, that's just genius. It just makes sense.

I can't wait to start developing widgets. My goal is to have a functioning widget or two done by the end of this week.

As for the rest of the new OS, I can't wait to spend more time with it. Automator looks like it will become indispensable, and I'm already enjoying Safari's RSS features. Look no further than Apple's new RSS Screensaver for a jaw-dropping experience. I like the iTunes album art screensaver too. Smart folders and mailboxes in the Finder and Mail, respectively, are so incredibly powerful that it's going to take me a while just to realize how they can increase my productivity and decrease clutter.

I just discovered another great feature: as a laptop user, I use locations to set how I'm obtaining my internet access. I have 'Work' for my work's airport settings, and 'Home' as my Airport Express's settings. There was never a super-quick way to change these, so I used Quicksilver for that and loved being able to use a simple key command to change such a critical preference. So far Quicksilver can't do that on the new system, but I just saw that Apple has included a 'Location' item in the Apple menu, with all my locations appearing in a submenu. Two clicks and I'm good to go. So smart, Apple, so smart.

'Nuff said, Tiger rocks. And watch macosxhints.com for tips on all the subtleties of Apple's latest and greatest OS.